“Clusters of small businesses and artisan shops” is how C. William Brubaker described Harper Court on South Harper Avenue in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood when he took this photo of the court sometime in 1978. And while we’re sure there’s a fascinating subtext about urban development and redevelopment, retail shopping clusters, and how transportation ties into it all, we’re just here for the cars today. So what do you see in Harper Court’s parking lot?

I would put that as a 74 or 75 Olds 98. The 73’s didn’t have the big glass in the C pillar. (hope that is the correct use of C pillar). We had a 73 98, what a ridiculous car. Huge and soft. Lethargic and devoid of any road sensation. Why did we buy these??? The 88 with a 350 was a better choice.

The ’70 Impala has a broken spring on the flip-down license plate bracket/gas filler door. Also, the ’77 Monte Carlo in the infamous metallic orange that was available on many GM cars that year – I remember going to the local Buick dealer with the next-door neighbor to trade his metallic gold ’70 LeSabre Custom 4-door sedan (350 4-barrel) for an orange ’77 Le Sabre Custom 4-door sedan (231 2-barrel Even Firing V6).

I lived in Wicker Park and worked in Hyde Park in the late ’90’s. I took The El and walked through Washington Park. After my co-workers found out what I was doing, they told me it was bad idea. I had been doing it for a few months, so I kept on.

I used to ride my bike around Washington Pk in the winter. There were loud recordings that warned about falling through the ice. Do you remember that? The warnings went: “Danger, danger, the ice will not support your weight. The ice will not support your weight. You may fall through, you may fall through”. I remember it like it was yesterday!

This photo captures the Chicago I recall growing up there before moving to Seattle in 1979.
Drove a rusted out 70 Impala across the country getting maybe 15 mpg while running into gas rationing in Idaho. Oil was added with every fill up. That Chevy was all used up with 60,000 miles.

You must had a poorly maintained ’70 Impala if you only got 60,000 out of it. I owned 2 of these cars as used cars, first one 1972 and the second in 1981 when I was in New England for a 2 year assignment from my company in Long Beach CA. The first ’70 was blue sport coupe with a 350 and AC and had 18,000 miles when I bought it at the Chevy dealer used. I drove that one with no issues to 196K when I sold it in 1985. The second ’70 I bought in New England (bought this for $500.00 after getting one unreliable Chevette company car after the next). That was a cream colored custom coupe (little rusty bottom of the front fenders) with a 400 and had 94,000 and still ran like new. I logged another 40,000 miles in 2 years on that one before I sold it for more than I paid for it. Point is, if these cars like were properly maintained (I was fanatic about this) they were very solid cars. Sorry for you bad experience

I like when cars like this poor Chev. get center stage, it really represents what most cars looked like in the mid-west. When we see pics of “rust-free states, (you know who you are), oh, the cars look SO nice, but in reality, this Chevy was what most people drove “round here, fact is, this would be considered a good one, it appears to have all its body panels and most of its hubcaps !